To hunt Capercallie with West Siberian Laika

By Eirik Krogstad

For thousand of years the nordic spitz has followed the taigahunter in his search for food and pelts, and during this time the game and climat shaped these dogs and perfected them. Today this old spitz dog has gone into different directions, and hunters have specialized their dogs on different kinds of game, and this has resulted in a number of breeds.

But behind the "Iron curtain", in Russia, they managed to preserve a versatile hunting dog. This dog was able to hunt any kind of game that belong to the enormous woodland in notheastern Europe, and they are used by professional as well as amateur hunters.

Today the West siberian laika is about to be turned into "just another" specialized hunting dog for moose, and the breeds versatile huntingcapabilleties is forgotten. But still there are hunters all around that use the West siberian laika for what it's supposed to be, a versatile hunting dog!

Beside from the finnish laika club (Suomen laikajärjestö), that arrange hunting trials on bear, the only trials available through local laika clubs are on moose. To try the dog on other game, like Capercallie, one has to seek elsewhere. There is no organized trials in Scandinavia on game, like squirrel and marten. Only Russia has these kind of trials.

In most of the woodland that cover northeast Europe one can find the Capercallie, and this bird has been hunted by man as long as there has been people living in these areas. As any other native peolple they used a bow and arrow in their hunt for food, and to kill a bird that disapear quickly into the woods with theis kind of weapon must have been almost impossible. The arrival of the spitzdog, made the search for these birds possible and it secured a vital foodresource available at any time of the year.

The way these dogs tree the bird and mark it by barking, made it possible for the hunter to sneak up and finish the hunt with a well placed arrow. Today the Capercallie is hunted in the exact same way, only the bow and arrow has been replaced with a shotgun or rifle, but the basic elements in the hunt is the same as they where thousand of years ago. There are breeds specialized on this hunting, but the West siberian laika is the perfect choise for the hunter that doesn't want to hunt just one kind of game.

The Capercallie doesn't have the same value today as it had just 50 years ago, but many hunters enjoy the challenge in this hunt, and to hunt Capercallie with a spitzdog is by many considered as one of the most diffecult ways to hunt, that bring out the best in both hunter and dog.

In the autumn the Capercallie spend most of it's time on the ground, searching for berries and urts, and it's the tracks they leave here the dogs pick up and use to find the bird. The West siberian laika has a very good capabillety to scent birds on some distance and track them down this way. In the early parts of the autumn one can get very close to these birds before they fly away, witch can be a noisy experience in the woods, and instinct tell it to seek for the nearest tree for safety when approached by a predator on the ground. If the dog get's there first, the chanses are good that the bird will tree somewhere close to the area it took off from the ground, but if the hunter scare the bird it can fly a long way before treeing or landing on the ground again. In the birds mind the upraised figure of a man isn't considered as a natural predator, so the reaction is a completely different one as if the dog should scare it. That is why the best way to approach a Capercallie beeing marked by a barking dog, is by stalking as close to the ground as possible. This way it's possible to get very close to the bird.

When the Capercallie has been scared out by the dog, it will follow the bird for as long as possible useing it's sight. When the bird disapear between the trees the dog will stop and listen to the flying bird, and under perfect conditions it can hear the bird tree up to 500 meters away. It will then run in the direction that it heard the bird tree, and by useing it's scent it will recover the bird and start barking when eyecontact is established.

It may sound easy, but the outcome of the hunt is very much depending on the weather and the time of year. Windy conditions will make it hard for the dog to hear the bird as it fly away into the woods, and it will make it hard for the hunter to hear the dog when it starts to bark.

For a period in October when the leaves fall from the trees, changes the Capercallie completly and it become almost impoosible to aproach it, and it won't remain in the tree for a long time when the dog is barking. It's impossible to explain why this happens, but it will remain like this untill the first snow arrives. Then it will sit tight for the dog again and a wonderful period of the huntingseason starts for the hunter and his laika.

If one take a look at the specialized breeds, some dogs hunt better in the winter than in the autumn and the other way around, but the West siberian laika seems to be working the entire season without having any trouble at all. The West siberian laika have long legs and handle deep snow easily, while the smaller specialized breeds like the Finnish spitz and the Norrbottenspitz naturally have bigger problems during this period.

During winter the Capercallie feed in the trees, and one bird can select several favourite pinetrees within' it's territory, and the hunter can find these trees by looking for the spillings under them. In an area with these feedingtrees the hunter will use skis or snowshoes and consentrate his search to the treetops where the male Capercallie feeds. The females are found further down in the tree and they're almost impossible to detect from a distance. If they become aware of the hunter they will fly away, but the dog can locate them and bark up the tree. The bird will stay, but in open terrain there is nowhere to hide and the stalk is often doomed before it starts, even though the hunter will use white camuflage.

During winter the weapon used to hunt Capercallie is a rifle, and the male Capercallie is shot while sitting in the treetop from a distance. This kind of hunt is done without the help from a dog, but if the Capercallie isn't killed instantly, it can glide away on stiff wings and disapear for good. The dog can be of great help if the hunter has to search for a wounded or disapeared bird. Capercalliehunting in the winter is the sharpshooters hunt.

The hunter is camuflaged in white when there is snow on the ground, and many hunters choose to camuflage their weapon as well, but most of all, it's the way the hunter behave while approaching the Capercallie, that will decide the outcome. Stalking through deep, loose snow can be exhausting and it will take a long time to get there. Upraised the hunter doesn't stand a chanse even if camuflaged.

In the autumn some hunters also choose to use camuflage, and some even look like a military sniper and will scare the hell out of anyone he comes across, but the most important in stalking a Capercallie, is to use the terrain.

One rule must always be remembered: NEVER MOVE SIDEWAYS!!!!! No matter what the hunter does this will be devestating, the bird will detect the hunter imideatly and fly away. It may look as the dog is keeping the Capercallie occupied while barking at it, but very good eyesight and a fenomenal hearing help the bird to stay alert at all time. Still it's what they see that make them fly away and from the tree it's abel to have the situation under control.

A first time hunter will scare a lot of birds before beeing able to shoot one down, and the same goes for the dog. In the beginning the birds will disapear and the dog, and the dog won't be able to find them again. After a while the dog will learn that the birds tree somewhere ahead and eventually it will recover one.

These things take time and a Capercalliehunter has to spend a lot of time in the woods with his West siberian laika, before the young dog learns what to do and how to handle the bird.